Excerpts From The Mayor's Journal
by OtterFrog
Summary: An accompaning story to 'The Odd Visitor'. What did the mayor and his family think when Jojo had disappeared for those few weeks on Earth? How did they cope and how did they finally find him?
1. Chapter 1

**Excerpts From The Mayor's Journal**

**November 12: **This has got to be one of the worst days of my life and the hardest to write about. I don't even feel like writing yet I know I have to get it down to keep my mind straight. I'm here in the office when I should be with Sally and the girls but I needed some time to myself to get my thoughts straightened out. Thoughts such as 'Is this all my fault?' and 'Could I have prevented this somehow?' No matter how many times I've asked myself those questions I come up with blanks. I don't know. I simply do not know!

I knew Jojo went out at night to that observatory. Even after it was known to all what he did there and that knowledge most likely took away a lot of his privacy he still went up to work on whatever had taken his fancy at the moment. I never realized what genius he was showing in his inventions and the way he composed the scattered noises into wonderful music, I never had a clue. I was blind to it all, I now know this. Blind fool that I was.

But how was I to know? He never said a word. Or perhaps he did and in my foolishness was deaf to it. The thing is, my father treated me the same way, drilling in the importance of the coming official position and what I needed to do once I had filled it. How was I to know my own son would think different? It was just the way of things, father to son. My father took it from his grandmother and it would have most likely been from my grandfather had not there been that terrible accident with the cantelope and donkey cart. It was simply accepted as tradition. A tradition as old as Whoville itself.

If I myself had any ambitions other than becoming mayor I do not remember them now.

But now it was clear that Jojo did not fit in with the scheme of things and I believe his oldest sister shall be the one to fill that role now. She is quite intelligent, mind you, and I believe she will be a wonderful one!

I just wished Jojo could at least try it. For one day, perhaps? But then again, he didn't have the confidence his sister Hanna has. She can be quite stubborn and that trait could serve her well against the city council.

But anyway. Back to Jojo. Back to my son. And my heartbreak.

He didn't return from the observatory the other night. When breakfast time came around and I was ready to greet him with the allotted 12 seconds, the chair spun around empty. No sign of Jojo. Sally and I thought at first he was still asleep in his room. I went to check and still….no Jojo. Not only that but his bed hadn't even been slept in.

The only other place he could be was the old observatory. Once again I made my way up there, using the ingenious sling device Jojo had created even though my weight almost toppled it. I pushed open the small opening he had cut out of the main door and as soon as my eyes adjusted to the darkness I beheld….. pure carnage.

What was once Jojo's beautiful marvelous music machine was now no more than a stack of twisted metal, broken strings and connections. Bits of metal were scattered all over the floor and even the large telescope lens was lying smashed to pieces.

What had happened! I have no clue. All I know is that the body of my son must lie there. Somewhere, under all that wreckage. I tried like a madman to move it aside, all the while calling and then screaming my son's name. The only response I got was the echoes of my cries. I pulled, I pushed, I lifted and tossed aside more weight than I had ever been possible of but to no avail. No sign of my son or his body anywhere.

I finally came to my senses and called for help. When the emergency team came they too lifted and pulled and shifted the wreckage but there was just so much. So much of it all. They needed to bring in heavier equipment and build a ramp to get it all up there. No-one could do all that alone.

They then told me to go home, to break the news to my wife and kids. I didn't want to leave, I yelled at them that my son needed me, I had to be there! I was almost out of my mind with sorrow and fear.

They forced me to leave. I know it was for the best but my heart just couldn't accept that. I was leaving my son, my son who might be hurt badly under all that and needed me to help him. Was he calling for me and I couldn't hear him? Was he thinking of me while he lay crushed and helpless?

I don't remember walking home, I don't remember which way I took. All I remember is the incredible ache in my heart and the pain in my stomach as if someone had taken the biggest cleaver in the lot and twisted it all up inside me.

Sally. I must be strong for Sally.

Oh how hard it was to break the news to her! Her very first child, her baby. He was the hardest too, 2 months premature. He fought so hard for life and we fought with him. I remember looking down at him when he was just a few hours old. So tiny. He was only the length of my hand. His arms and legs were so thin, so fragile. I was so very afraid to even hold him. How could I support this fragile tiny body without breaking him? I handled him as if he were made of the finest porcelain. More than once we thought we had lost him, more than one the monitors keened that awful long single note that sent doctors stampeding into the room and closing Sally and I out, to work to get his heart beating again. When that blip returned it was the sweetest sound I had ever heard.

And now, I have lost you again, Jojo. No doctors can help you now.

Sally was strong, bless her. She was always the strongest one of us both. She broke down and cried. I held her and we both cried. Then she collected herself and gathered the girls together. I went into my office and closed the door. I could hear the wails of sorrow through the walls but I couldn't bring myself to join them, to help console and comfort the girls.

I couldn't console and comfort myself.

They're coming up today to start clearing more of the stuff away, so we can find him.

I can't write anymore. My heart is breaking. I must go to Sally and help her and the girls. They may bring him home today. I don't want them to see that. Let them remember him as he was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Excerpts From The Mayor's Journal: Part Two**

**November 13 : **Things haven't gotten any better. In fact it feels like everything is nothing more than a very bad dream. I kept wishing I would just wake up and find myself in my comfortable bed and all my family is well and together once more.

If only.

All the girls are acting more like zombies. They go through the motions of every day life but not much more than that. Even Sally. Her eyes are red and puffy from crying (and in fact so are mine) but she knows life must go on, some how. We cannot stop living just because we lose a loved one. But it is so hard. How can I go on without my Jojo?

Every morning his empty chair passes by and every morning my heart gets torn apart even further. Sally hasn't entered his room since yesterday. I suppose she is pretending he is still in there, composing a new tune or sketching out some new musical invention. As long as she doesn't open that door she can keep the illusion intact.

But it is only an illusion, after all.

The bridge to the observatory is halfway finished and it's hoped that by tomorrow they'll be able to get the scooper in. In the meantime the workers are carefully sifting through what scraps they can move. No sign of Jojo yet. Every time the phone rings I jump, my heart in my throat. On one hand I long for the news that they've found him and at the same time I'm dreading it. When they do find him that will be the final cut. No more vain hope that perhaps he's still alive.

But under all that, how could he be? How? Why am I still finding a small corner of my mind the faint pulse, that small belief, that miniscule hope that perhaps, somehow, he had ducked and avoided being crushed from all that material collapsing on top of him? It's impossible, I know. And yet.

Oh Jojo. Jojo. My boy. My son. How can I go on without you? Why didn't I listen to you more? We could have had a few years together anyway instead of me constantly driving you away with this mayor nonsense.

Yes, I said 'nonsense'. Of what importance is this office to me now that I have lost my son? Nothing matters anymore. Nothing.

Oh Jojo. Jojo. I can't type anymore. My eyes are so full of tears I can no longer see the keyboard clearly.

**November 14: **They're almost finished with the bridge by now, an ugly thick heavy structure replacing Jojo's elegant mobile. I hate to look at it but I know it's needed. The heavier parts cannot be lifted otherwise. They're even bracing up the Cliffside so the added weight won't make matters worse. Why did they allow that building to remain up there in the first place? If it wasn't there, then perhaps Jojo would have found another place and….

No. Trying to find someone to blame will not help the situation. It was there, and this happened. Any other thought in that direction or regret is a waste of time. I need to keep my thoughts focused entirely on regaining my son.

More Whos had volunteered their time to come and and move the smaller pieces around the edges but only a few can be in the building at one time. One wrong piece may be pulled out and the whole pile could collapse even more. I have to keep the hope that Jojo is still alive under there, somehow. I've tried walking all around the mess, tapping here and there and listening for a reply. Nothing.

What was he trying to do? If I had even the slightest notion then perhaps I could work out just where he would have been standing and concentrate my efforts there. But I have no clue and since he never talked about his ideas to schoolmates, or friends or even his sisters, no-one knows.

Even the chairman and the city council had come up and offered condolences and help. I never thought I'd ever see the chairman lose his composure but this had affected even him. He too looked shattered, though I doubt as much as Sally and I. Neither one of us can eat or sleep well. The girls are trying to be strong but I hear them crying in their beds at night and that adds to my pain.

A pall seems to have fallen over Whoville. Everyone goes through their daily routine but it looks wooden, as if they were all merely filling a role in a bad play.

**November 15: **No, I am not dyeing my fur black! I refuse to give up hope! Until I actually see my son's body before me I will never give up the hope that he's still alive somewhere under there. Stranger things have happened. He's a strong healthy Who and I have no doubt that if he happened to have found a sheltered spot from the collapse he would survive until we uncover him.

Still, I long to hear the return tap or a faint call. I would give up everything, my mayoral crest, my home, anything just to be able to hear something return my attempts to reach him. But the only sounds I hear are the continuing scrapings of pieces being pulled away and outside. Nobody is talking during this, it's eerie, this quiet. No shouts of encouragement, no 'heave ho!'s, just a silent determination of work.

Sally wanted to come up but I told her it's best if she remained home with the girls. I know he's her son as well but I don't want her to see such a mess and have her hopes that he might still be alive be squashed utterly.

She still has him room closed and locked. No-one has been in it since.

I was up at the scene when Ms Yelp sent word to me that Horton was on the horn and wanting to speak. I really didn't want to talk but he's been such a good friend I had to go.

When I broke the news to him that Jojo had had an accident he too was shaken. In fact he couldn't speak again for about twenty minutes. I stood there and listened to his sobs, adding a few of my own. When he was able to talk again he told me he wished he could be down there to help as well and I could hear the tears in his voice. Such a good dear friend. Horton is one of those kinds of friends that all you need to do is know they're near and will support you and you don't even have to say a thing. We just stood there, feeling the comfort of each other's company. It was soothing in a way. Perhaps I should bring Sally up here soon.

But then Horton said something rather startling.

"Mayor," he said, haltingly at first. "I know you're going to think I've gone off the deep end of the pool with this but I've just had a feeling…."

He paused at that and I had to press him to go on. "Feeling? What 'feeling'?"

The horn was silent for a while then he spoke again, low and earnest. "I just have this…feeling that…well….I don't want to get your hopes up or anything but…."

"But what, man! Spit it out!" Unknowingly I imitated the chairman in one of his fits. I couldn't help it. If Horton knew something, anything that could help my son I wanted the information now!

"Idon'tthinkyou'regoingtofindhimthere." Horton spoke so quickly I didn't understand him at first. Then what he had said dawned on me.

"What do you mean? Horton, if you know something…if he's mentioned anything to you, please! Tell me!"

"It's just that…sometimes I have these….I dunno…gut feelings? They often come true, y'know."

"Horton." I took a deep breath. I mustn't lose patience but I was at my wit's end now.

"I don't think Jojo's there. In the observatory, I mean. He isn't."

I didn't reply for a few moments, I just stood there staring at the horn with my jaw dropping, like the idiot the chairman had so many times referred to me as.

"Ah…Mayor? Are you ok? Did you hear me?"

"Horton…but he's…..there's nowhere else…..where else…." I stuttered. My brain just couldn't make sense of this. "Did he tell you something? About his plans?"

"No no. In fact the only time I had ever spoken to him was back when he asked what were you going to do without me. I don't know what it was he was working on."

"But then how do you know….."

A deep sigh came over the horn. "I don't know. I can't tell you how I know. I just do. I seem to know when the river's going to flood a few hours before it happens. I know when there's going to be a glut of fruit on the gorgelapple trees. I just…know. And I know Jojo's not there where you're looking for him."

I didn't reply to that, I just shut my eyes and rubbed my temples. My head was aching from the continuous stress. Don't, Horton. Please don't get my hopes up. If I start believing him and then they bring the news that they've found him finally, I don't think I could stand it. Just don't.

"Mayor?"

"Horton," I said, feeling so old and worn. "Don't do this to me."

"No! I'm not! It's true! Please believe me, Mayor!"

"All right then, where is he? We've looked everywhere else in Whoville. If he isn't there, then tell me where he is!"

It was Horton's turn to become silent and for me to prompt him to reply. "Horton?"

"I can't….tell you where he is. I just know he's not where you think he is."

"Can you at least tell me then, where to look?"

Again the silence. Then, faintly. "Have you checked his room?"

"No." I swallowed hard. "Sally's locked it up. No-one's been in it since."

"There's something there, if you do look. Something small, but it's really important. I feel it's there, in his room. The key to all this."

"Look, Horton, I really don't feel this is the time for some scavenger hunt so…"

"Mayor PLEASE!" His voice came out so loud that it made me flinch. And increased my headache. "You HAVE to go in there and check! It's there! I know it is!"

What is it about hope that when it's died down to a faint ember, one little voice can make it flare up again? Was it desperation? Or just insanity? I swallowed hard again. "What is it I'm looking for again?"

"Eeerrrrrr, something small. Something that you won't be able to understand but someone else would. I'm sorry, mayor. I wish I could make it plainer to you but it's not like I'm getting pictures in my head or anything, I just have this 'feeling'."

"All right. I'll go look. But Horton, if they do find him in the observatory, if this is just a wild goose chase…..I don't know what I'll do. It will hurt so much."

"I understand," Horton said softly. "If it isn't true then you'll probably hate me for the rest of your life. I understand. But you won't! Because he isn't! It's there, Mayor! Really! Please go! Just go and look!"

"Ok. I'll do it. Are…are you going to be around for a while, Horton?"

"I'm not moving from this spot, mayor." came the answer. "I'll be here. Day or night. Whenever you want to talk to me, I'll be right here."

"Thanks, Horton. Thanks for…for just being there."

Family and friends. Those are the only things that help us get through such tough heart-breaking times. Family and good friends.

I have to go back to the observatory now. And Sally will be home. I don't think I'll tell her what Horton said, or even let her see me go into Jojo's room. I'll do it tonight when everyone's asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Excerpts From The Mayor's Journal**

**November 16:** They've completed the bridge (Hideous thing that it is) and the scoopers had made their slow lumbering way across. (How easily Jojo had done this.) They've gotten ropes and tackle inside and they're going to start lifting the large girders today. The dumpers are lined up to be filled and then taken away to the recyclers.

The amount of time Jojo spent in creating this device, the one that had almost been loud enough to save us all, I'm sure none of us knew. Even after the incident he had used it a few more times and we all had enjoyed the marvelous music it gave. He put his heart and soul into it, one could even feel that in the musical notes! And now it was being dragged out, dumped into a waiting bucket, then getting disposed of. No clue as to the marvelous machine it once had been. The heart and soul has gone. All that remained was twisted metal and other materials. Bent, broken and useless. Just how I was feeling, watching this.

Afterwards I hope they will dismantle that observatory as well. I don't want it staying there, a stark reminder of my loss. In fact I don't want to look at it ever again.

I didn't get a chance to go into Jojo's room last night. Sally wanted to hug me close all night until the morning. I hope she isn't afraid she's going to lose me too. That will never happen. I will stick by her and our daughters until the end of time. I suppose I should tell her that, not just assume she knows it. Yes, I should have a talk with her and the girls tonight. We as a family are not going to be torn apart. We will stay together regardless.

Comforting words, but who is going to comfort me? Oh yes, Horton. Horton and his kind words. And advice.

Sally is going with the girls to school today. It seems the younger girls are now fearful they will lose others so she's going as emotional support. When one is so young the world seems such a solid place that when a tragedy hits so close it suddenly turns threatening. Small wonder most of them have been having bad dreams lately.

I think this will be my chance to go into the room and see just what it is Horton was talking about. ……

All right, here it is 2 in the afternoon and I've just returned from that mission. I'm not sure if I was successful, but I certainly am confused.

His room was just as he had left it, bed made only to the point that showed he had made an attempt to smooth the sheets and spread the blankets. His book bag is still on the floor next to his chair and his schoolwork on his desk, undone. I started looking around and had the odd feeling he was going to burst in and catch me at this. I wished he would.

At first all I found were notes and scattered sketches of various inventions he was planning. Some were ingenious, others simply outlandish but who am I to judge what would work and what wouldn't? Horton said whatever it was that was the key would be something small that I wouldn't understand. Well, I didn't understand these sketches but I don't think that was what he meant. I looked all around his desk and found just the odd lot of things one might expect in a boy's room, pencil nubs, a pen knife, comb, some scattered pieces of old blocks I thought he had outgrown, wires, steel bearings, a bit of tubing. Some nuts and bolts. Nothing out of the ordinary as far as I could see.

I sat down at his desk and put my head in my hands. I had no idea what to look for and I was getting frustrated. If the key to all this was here, then once again I felt a failure. Failure to keep him safe and now a failure to find what was needed to find him.

"Oh Jojo. Jojo," Tears came to my eyes again. "What can I do? How can I face this? Where are you?"

I leaned back in the chair with such despair as I had never felt before. There was NOTHING here! Nothing at all! What was the matter with Horton that he started spouting such nonsense? Even though I knew perfectly well it was unwarranted and undeserved I began to feel the tendrils of anger towards my good friend. How dare he send me off on such a hopeless task! I was about to slam my hands down on the desk as hard as I could when I saw, sticking out of the side of a tangled mess of action figures, his old watch.

Something made me pick it up. It was the first watch we had ever given him, when he first started school. He was so proud of it, wanted to wear it around the clock. But eventually the newness wore off, the watch worn down and newer better models replaced it. But he had kept it still. Why? Did he have fond memories of this old thing? Why not just toss it in the trash?

Turning it over, I noticed it was missing its crystal. Broken, perhaps. That's what usually happens. But…

What if it was the small thing I needed to find? It was small.

Filled with new determination, I began searching for the missing crystal. I kept telling myself it was a silly thing to do, the crystal had been lost years ago, or thrown out, or broken into many pieces but I kept on. As long as I kept busy searching I didn't have to think about Jojo. I went around his room, tossing things about willy-nilly, looking, searching, and finally….finding.

I noticed some of the books on the shelf weren't pushed in all the way as the others. I gently gave them a slight shove and felt the resistance of something behind them. In removing the novels I found the watch crystal, and what it had been glued to.

I took it out as if it were made of soap bubbles and set it on his desk. I had no idea what it was, or what it was supposed to be. The crystal had been set on a small carved stick made to look like the telescope lens. Behind it were bits of small toy pieces that I supposed were meant to be parts of his Symphony-Phone. Was it a new musical invention? But why the crystal? It was set as if it were aiming at something. But what? Where?

What was it supposed to do?

Horton said I wouldn't understand it but someone else would. Who? I doubted Sally would, or the chairman.

But perhaps…Doctor LueRue?

The hope that had been fanned into a small flame after talking to Horton now leapt again. Horton may have been right about this, and if the doctor could determine just what this was supposed to be then we could figure out just what Jojo was trying to do and maybe discover where he was!

It did sound crazy but what did I have to lose? It didn't sound any crazier than when I first met Horton and was trying to verify the truth about Whoville on a speck. And anyway I didn't care if it sounded crazy. If this was the key to find my boy then I shall do everything in my power to find out about it.

I carefully put the precious object in a small empty box and hurried down to the college lab at Who U.

………….

Doctor LueRue was sitting at her desk when I knocked on the door; it didn't look like she had any heart to do anything at the time either. She was surprised to see me and after a hug or two and her sympathy I came to the subject of the box and the mysterious item.

Explaining what Horton had said (and admitting how crazy it sounded) I put the box down on her desk and gingerly took out the odd figurine.

"Well now," Doctor LueRue said as she adjusted her glasses. "Thish ish very intereshting." She studied it for a moment then picked it up and carried it over to her huge magnifying glass. She examined it still further, turning it this way and that. I was fearful she was going to end up breaking the thing but it came through intact.

"What is it, or what is it supposed to do?" I asked anxiously. I was twisting my fingers like some schoolboy waiting for the principal to get off the phone.

"I'm not sure, but it sheems that this piece here," she used a pencil to point at it. "Thish piece ish meant ash a focushing device. But there's no light shource to go there. I don't see what it wash he wash trying to focush and force through the glass here. May I keep thish here to schtudy further?"

I waved my hands in some manner. "Please do. And please let me know immediately what it's supposed to be?"

"Of coursh I will, Mishter Mayor, immediately!"

So there it lies, in her laboratory. If any answers were to be found from it I'm sure she will get it. I can only wait and hope.

They've only been able to remove the top layer of the wreckage at this time. It's getting cold and dark out and they have to wait until tomorrow to resume work.

Another cold lonely night for my boy, Jojo.

I'm so sorry.

**November 16:** They've gotten half of the larger pieces removed and they've pulled back to the searchers can get in and sift through before taking on the next layer. So far they've found nothing.

They did, however, find Jojo's notebook under one part. It was pretty ripped up and the spiral wirebound smashed flat but I could recognize some of the sketchings. They looked very much like bits of that odd assortment I had found in his room and had taken to Doctor LueRue. He had scribbled notes along the sides such as 'Up the amp here to 34.5' and 'Need more focus, wavelength not concentrated enough'. It didn't sound like anything to do with music. Just what was he trying to do?

I did go back to my office and spoke for a few minutes with Horton. He was interested in my find but he couldn't tell me whether or not that was the key he had talked about before. All he could do was offer some words of encouragement. I took what comfort I could from that.

I hadn't mentioned my find to Sally just yet, I'm still not sure if it really meant anything. I want to spare her as much heartbreak as I can manage. I think that she does suspect something, as she mentioned I wasn't really listening to her and the girls this morning. I tried but my mind kept going back to what Horton had said and that strange machine I found in Jojo's room. Yes, I know thought of it as a machine, clearly it was set to do something, now if we could only find out what.

They've started on removing the rest of the large pieces already this morning. If Jojo is there, we will find him some time today. I can't eat anything, everything is tasteless. I dread the updates, each one could be the one of finding his body, under all the wreckage. I don't know if I'll be able to stand it, what with the shrinking hope that maybe Horton was right, Jojo isn't there and that bit of glued watch crystal in Doctor LueRue's lab had something to do with it.

That's why I hadn't mentioned it to Sally. I had locked the bedroom door again so she has no idea I had been in there, searching among his things. Why get her hopes up only to be dashed? Let me suffer this alone, if it all goes wrong.

……………………………………………………………..

It's now six in the evening, every large piece had been moved, every small piece has been lifted and looked under and around.

HE ISN'T THERE!!!!

When they came up and informed Sally and I that the observatory had been thoroughly searched and yet no body, not one trace of Jojo could be found, my heart leapt almost out of my throat. It's True! Horton was right! Jojo isn't there!

But now, where is he???

I then sat Sally down and told her about Horton's role in this, how he had been convinced that Jojo wasn't in the observatory after all and how he directed me to search his room. Also what I had found there. She was a little angry that I hadn't told her before and I realize that I should have let her in on this as soon as possible, but I didn't want her to be hurt any more than she and the girls already have. I tried to explain all this and she relented, finally. Dear sweet Sally, she was always so understanding.

She then asked me what we should do next and all I could say was we have to wait for Doctor LueRue. If she couldn't get any answers from that model then we'd be at another dead end. Jojo hadn't been killed in the observatory, nor his body found but the fact still remained that he wasn't home, wasn't anywhere around and we had no idea where to go to look for him.

All we can do now is wait. Wait and hope.

We put the girls to bed and then sat outside together, staring up at the stars and wondering. Hoping. And praying.


End file.
